


She Fell in Love with Her Smile First

by klpkt



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Trans Perfuma (She-Ra)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24787483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klpkt/pseuds/klpkt
Summary: Perfuma may have accidentally invented a girlfriend. Who her friends now want to meet. Luckily Catra's friend is there to solve all her problems.
Relationships: Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 128





	1. Perfuma's 100% Real Totally Not At All Made Up Girlfriend

Perfuma never intended to _lie_ to her friends. It all just happened in a series of reasonable moments of stretching the truth. Like when Adora and Glimmer were planning how to surprise their partners with a double date to celebrate the end of finals season, and pointedly avoided discussing it in front of her, what was she supposed to do? Just _let_ them feel sorry for her? She’d gone on dates, she could’ve had _tons_ of advice for them!

Or when Sea Hawk showed a notable restraint from gushing about Mermista, shortly after Bow had had a whispered conversation with him, featuring not-so-subtle looks toward her. Being the only single person in a group full of couples was just. Not very fun. So she may have… invented a girlfriend.

At first it was just talking about going on dates, so she wouldn’t be so left out when the others talked about theirs. Most of it wasn’t even made up, the dates had happened, just not as recently as she claimed.

Then it went further. Because just going on regular dates with different people felt almost _more_ sad than just being perpetually single and non-dating. So now she was talking about the same made-up girl on her dates. And then they made it official, and she suddenly had a whole nonexistent girlfriend to keep telling them about. And that’s when it really started to go wrong.

* * *

“Hey, Perfuma, you’re coming to the graduation party, right?” Adora asked, a wide enthusiastic smile on her face. “Glimmer rented out the whole Waffle House for it, it’s gonna be a real humdinger.”

“ _Ugh_ , will you stop that?” Catra cut in before Perfuma even got a chance to answer. “We’re in the _twenty_ twenties, your slang is a century out of date.”

“I will not. Those words really razz my berries. Besides, it’s not me who’s a century out of date, maybe it’s _you_ who’s a century _in_ date.” Catra gave her a bemused look. “Um. Anyways! Perfuma?”

“Oh, uh. Yeah, of course! Wouldn’t want to miss it, big celebration and everything.” She wasn’t really sure why Adora was asking, the date for the party had been set months before, but. Might just be an RSVP thing? But no, of course she couldn’t be that lucky.

“Oh, you know what would be _fun_?” Bow cut in, _almost_ managing to sound spontaneous, “You know, me and Glimmer will be there, Adora and Catra, I’m not even sure Sea Hawk goes to our school but he’s coming with Mermista – you should bring your girlfriend!”

“That’s a _great_ idea, Bow,” Adora said enthusiastically, somehow managing to sound even less natural. “Don’t you agree, Perfuma?”

“I—um. I’m not sure she’s available? I mean, she can be pretty busy, and, uh. I’m sure she’s got something more important to—"

“More important than her _girlfriend’s_ big graduation party?” Adora interrupted, her surprised displeasure almost comically overstated. Only almost, though, as Perfuma’s mind was still way too focused on trying (and failing) to figure out how to talk her way out of the situation. “That doesn’t sound like the amazing girlfriend we’ve heard you talking about, Perfuma, I mean what could possibly be more important to her than you?”

“I–I— I don’t know, it’s not like I know her schedule I just… It’s not that she’s a bad girlfriend, she’s great! She just—"

That was the moment Catra decided to chime in, sealing her fate. “Aw, Flower Girl, it almost sounds like you don’t _want_ us to meet your mysterious girlfriend. What, are you embarrassed of us?”

Adora gasped, Bow looked absolutely devastated at the suggestion, and Perfuma knew she definitely wasn’t going to get out of this argument.

A half hour went by with Perfuma placating Bow and Adora, assuring them she wasn’t embarrassed of them, she was totally going to bring her fictitious girlfriend, she was super excited for them to meet her, all while Catra sat by with that smug look like she hadn’t just doomed her into mortifying humiliation come graduation day. By the time she was reasonably sure Bow was not going to return to crying, it was all she could do to excuse herself and leave with only a brief glare at Catra.

* * *

When she got outside, she sat down heavily against the wall with a sigh. How was she going to get out of this? She had to bring a girlfriend, she didn’t _have_ a girlfriend, if she went alone with some weak excuse for why she couldn’t come they would go back to the assumption she was ashamed of them, and she could not put Bow through that rollercoaster again. Even staging a breakup would look suspicious at best.

“Why did you have to say _that_ , Catra?” she asked into the night air.

“Oh, just felt like you might need the push,” Catra replied, suddenly appearing in the doorway.

Perfuma jumped at the unexpected response, almost hitting her head on the wall. “Wh—Don’t sneak up on me like that!” she yelled, frustration finding its way into her voice.

“Oof, _sorry_ for being light on my feet, I guess.” Catra looked anything but sorry.

“Why are you here?” Perfuma asked, trying to be as firm and definitely-not-panicking-sounding as possible.

“What, can’t I just come out to have a chat with my best pal Flower Girl?” A couple seconds passed, Perfuma not relenting in her glare. “Alright, fine, you got me. I have a proposal.”

“A proposal about what?”

“Your girlfriend.”

“What about her?” Perfuma asked cautiously.

“She doesn’t exist. Right?”

Perfuma’s eyes went wide as saucers, “Um, n–no, she definitely does! Wh–why would I—” She trailed off, faced with Catra’s unimpressed look. “No, you’re right. She doesn’t.”

“Well,” Catra continued, brushing aside Perfuma’s outburst as if nothing had happened, “that’s going to be awkward at the party. Isn’t it?”

Perfuma only nodded, unsure where this was going.

“Well, luckily for you, my friend Scorpia loves parties, she’ll be happy to go with you.” Catra inspected her nails as she paused for a beat, letting her suggestion sink in. “And then once you’ve ‘proven’ to the others your girlfriend really does exist, you can fake break up or whatever, I don’t care.”

“And what do _you_ get out of this plan?” Perfuma asked uncertainly. She wasn’t actually considering this, was she?

“I get to watch you trying to act and avoid detection for a whole night, in an otherwise boring and generic college party,” Catra replied nonchalantly, before turning and walking back into the building. “I’ll text you her number tonight,” she called over her shoulder as the door closed.

Perfuma stayed by the wall for a couple minutes, thinking through Catra’s plan. It was crazy. Right? But then again…it’s not like she had any better ones lined up, if everything went well this Scorpia person would at least get her out of the current situation. Even if it also set the stage for a whole lot more worse situations if it went wrong.

Eventually she got up to leave, sitting still against a wall outside at night was getting cold and she’d be able to think much better at home. As she started to walk away from the building, her phone buzzed with a message.

An embedded contact from Catra, with the caption “your beloved awaits ;)”


	2. First Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia appears! ..Barely. Also, a *lot* of anxiety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...This took two months?? If anyone is still here from the first chapter, thank you so much for waiting so long! I know I just posted like a Prologue and then left you hanging for a Long time, but. It's here now! And for anyone just joining us, thanks for clicking in, I hope you're liking it so far!

“Oh, Razz, what am I going to do?”

Madame Razz gave Perfuma an incredulous look. “You’re helping me make my cake, don’t you remember, Perfuma dearie?” She shook her head as she went back to her batter. “And they call _me_ forgetful…”

“No, not that, um. The girlfriend thing.”

“Oooh, you have a girlfriend?” Razz lit up, laying aside the mixing bowl to grin at Perfuma. “You have to tell Madame Razz these things, I want to hear about what happens with you children.”

“No, I— That’s the problem, I don’t. I made one up and now that’s coming back to bite me.”

Razz’s face was a living question mark, and Perfuma sighed before launching into her explanation of the situation, yet again.

* * *

“—and then Catra texted me her number, and now _I_ have to decide what to do about it, and I’m running out of time to make the decision, and I just—” Perfuma laid her head in her hands in frustration. “I have no idea what the right thing is here.”

Razz considered for a moment, then decided with a nod, “You should call her.”

“I—what?” Perfuma looked up at Razz incredulously. “No, no I can’t do that, what if she doesn’t like me? What if she says no?”

“Then you will have an answer. And she will like you, everybody likes you, dearie.” Madame Razz, considering the conversation over, got up and went over to the oven to check that it’d been heated.

“But—”

“No buts! You call, she answers, you can move on. Or send a text, that’s what you kids do these days, isn’t it?”

“I…guess I could do that?”

“Good!” Razz grinned at her. “Now, please help Madame Razz put the cake into the oven, dearie?”

* * *

Perfuma stared at her phone. It was just a text, shouldn’t be so hard, right? Texting was easy, just, write a text, send it, plan stuff out with Scorpia and then meet up with her later for an in person chat, which should hopefully be even easier. Nothing difficult about it at all. So _why_ was it taking so much out of her to actually _do_ it?

After several false starts, typing out a beginning sentence and deleting it, trying a different wording that was even worse, she was only getting more and more frustrated for each minute that passed without having sent off the message. _Come on, Perfuma, stop overthinking this and just **do** it!_
    
    
    (13.01) Hi, Scorpia, it’s Perfuma

Perfect, now Scorpia could reply to the greeting and they could get talking and— Wait, had Catra even told Scorpia her name? Oh no, if she hadn’t then this would seem really weird, just a text from some random person introducing herself, that had to be fixed.
    
    
    (13.02) Catra’s friend

There, much better. With this, it was almost an actual introduction, much less strange as a conversation starter. It was out of Perfuma’s hands now, she could just sit and wait for— Shoot, she hadn’t actually given Scorpia any reason to reply, she’d just said who she was and now for all she knew Scorpia would just save her number, or worse, ignore her message entirely, she had to actually _say_ something for this to go anywhere.
    
    
    (13.03) Do you want to meet for lunch?

Perfuma gave a long sigh. Triple texting? Really? She didn’t know this person at all, except that she was Catra’s friend and she liked parties, and she was already messing up their whole first contact by blowing up her phone with messages before she even got one word in response. And now her one chance to avoid telling her friends she lied about the girlfriend thing was ruined, as well as, you know, losing out on her chance at being friends with one of Catra’s cool friends, and—
    
    
    (13.07) Hi! I’m Scorpia!
    
    
    (13.07) I guess you knew that already, but it’s nice to meet you!
    
    
    (13.07) I’m always happy to meet one of Wildcat’s friends
    
    
    (13.07) Where do you want to meet?

…Okay, maybe that had been an overreaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record I wrote the first half of the chapter in late June, it was just so short I didn't feel okay just posting it on its own. And then summer happened and I was with my family, and then I moved apartments, and I applied for a job (which I did not get) and then student unemployment grant, and I just did not feel like bringing all that stress into the fic. And the few times I tried the texting anxiety was really hard to get right, so. Took a while. But now I'm past that difficult part and I'm in school city, alone on my computer a Lot of the time, and I Am Motivated! So hopefully you'll get the next chapter in. Less than two months.


	3. Oh shit she's Hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perfuma stresses about meeting Scorpia, then stresses some more, then they meet and she stresses just a tiny bit more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not projecting onto Perfuma's anxieties and/or lesbian brain I don't know what you're talking about

Perfuma was not freaking out. She was staying calm, she had nothing to worry about, she was Totally Calm.

...except that was a total lie, she was  _ panicking _ .

“Remind me again why I’m here?” Catra asked, looking at Perfuma’s chaotic rummaging of drawers with bemusement.

Perfuma sighed and turned to face the girl stretching out on her couch. “You’re here because I need to pick out clothes for my meeting with Scorpia tomorrow. I  _ have  _ to look my best, I’m asking her to be my fake girlfriend and I can’t exactly do that if she instantly hates me!”

“...you think she’ll hate you because you wear the wrong color dress.”

“Yes!!! First impressions are everything, if she hates the color I pick then her judgment of me could be clouded by the bad associations she has of that color and she’ll say no and I will literally die of embarrassment when I have to show up to the party with no girlfriend.”

Catra gave her a long look. “Okay. Even if I accept the premise of ‘Scorpia will say no solely because you picked the wrong clothes’, that still doesn’t explain why, of anyone you could’ve asked for help, you asked  _ me _ .”

“Because I don’t  _ have _ anyone else, you’re the only one who knows that I don’t have a girlfriend, that I haven’t ever even  _ kissed _ a girl, that I made it all up for months and that Scorpia is my last chance to seem like…” Perfuma trailed off, sitting in silence for a long moment as she tried to ignore Catra’s suddenly softened look, before holding up two dresses. “Now  _ please _ , green or pink.”

* * *

Okay, going to the café a full hour before the planned time  _ might _ have been a mistake. It had made sense at the time, she didn’t want to be rude to Scorpia by showing up late, but then she overshot in the other direction and now had  _ way _ too much time to herself, just sitting around and waiting.

And thinking.

That was the worst part, with Scorpia not there yet her mind had ample opportunity to run wild with anxiety thoughts, what if Scorpia didn’t show, what if she was mean, what if Perfuma  _ had _ chosen the wrong dress, what if everything just blew up in her face and the whole plan failed?

She checked the clock on her phone; not enough time to go back home and change. Scorpia would arrive soon so even if she did make a bad decision, she couldn’t do anything about it now, she should focus on the things she  _ can _ do something about. Like…her hair. Was it good? She brought her phone back out, using the front-facing camera to fix it up, it was  _ fine _ but surely it could be better, she just had to—

“Oh, hi, you’re Perfuma, right?”

Perfuma almost threw her phone in the face of the speaker, but luckily managed to only drop it loudly on the floor instead. So much for first impressions.

“Ope, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” the woman who had appeared next to her table said, helpfully picking up Perfuma’s phone and handing it to her. “Hi, I’m Scorpia. Or, I guess you already know that, since you did call me by name in your texts and you’re Catra’s friend and…”

Scorpia continued rambling, but Perfuma was having a hard time paying attention, because what the heck Catra didn’t tell her Scorpia was  **_hot_ ** , she was expecting, like, someone who looked like a normal person, not like they’d literally gone into her brain and picked out her exact type. She was so not ready for this.

Well, at least she wouldn’t have any difficulties convincing her friends she found her fake girlfriend attractive, the hard part would instead be not weirding Scorpia out with… staring at her for a whole minute without responding. Which she was currently doing. And it looked like Scorpia had noticed.

“...are you okay? You’re looking kind of– is there something behind me?” Scorpia turned around in her seat, giving Perfuma a full view of her neck muscles, which were… just as distracting as the rest of her.

Clearing her throat, and trying to ignore the blush she could feel creeping up her own neck, Perfuma quickly shook herself out of her daze.

“Uh, no, sorry, I’m fine,” she said, wincing a bit as her voice cracked for a moment, “I just… zoned out for a moment.”

“Oh, okay!” Scorpia beamed, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Perfuma, I can already tell we’re gonna be the  _ best _ of friends!”

Perfuma’s heart fluttered at Scorpia’s big smile saying her name. She was  _ so _ not ready for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm BACK! School was a Lot more than I expected but this chapter has been living rent free in my brain the entire time and now finally it can move into your brains as well!
> 
> Also today (dec 2) is my birthday, I finished the chapter as a birthday gift for myself (only barely managed it, I finished an hour ago, at 23.59)


End file.
